Cats and Dogs
by rifleman101
Summary: In a world where Naruto was never born, where 'Naruto' was a book written by Jiraiya. A jinchuuriki's tale. Rating may change, chapters will come slow, and I now have an editor. Shelved, sorry.


_Disclaimer: I own Naruto. I own the anime kingdom. I own your mom._

_Sigh, normally a good 13 pages is a chapter for me. As it is, this is not on my AlphaSmart3000, so enjoy._

_It doesn't feel complete! Dang it!_

_Read and Review please._

_EDIT: Reason for editing: Old, needed to be updated, and FFnet won't update the neat format I want to keep. *Sigh* also improved some of it._

_*break*_

I once read a story about a young ninja—no, a jinchuuriki. I don't know where dad got the book but, it was good. Well written, dynamic characters and an intriguing plot. It was 'real'— not everyone got a happy ending. It starts out with the Fourth Hokage, sealing the Nine Tailed Fox inside the belly of a kid…I bet you've read it. Like I've said before, great story. Actually gave some hope to a few jinchuuriki.

Of course, it was just fiction. The real story didn't happen like that.

From what I gathered, the story you've heard was the creation of one of the Legendary Sannin—the sensei of the Fourth. Cool guy, I've talked to him a few times. He may be a pervert but he's one of the few people that look beyond what's on the surface.

Well, I've asked him and the truth is more like this:

Apparently, the _real_ God of Death will take bijuu—or jinchuuriki for that matter—for free. The otherwise suicidal technique becomes the ultimate tool for killing the "ultimate" weapons. The Fourth knocked off two bijuu and one jinchuuriki that way. If I remember right, it was the Six Tails and the Seven Tails, and the Three Tails jinchuuriki from the Hidden Mist village. You know, the turtle one. Nailed him good, the Fourth did. Rasengan is a powerful technique.

And if I recall correctly, fighting the Three Tails Jinchuuriki was the closest the Fourth has ever been to death, save the other time.

Yah, jinchuuriki have it rough, no one, it seems, is on their side. Not even the God of Death… come to think of it; is there a god for people merged with demons? If there is, he's doing a sloppy job of backing them up.

Oh yah, and Naruto, the main character? He doesn't exist. In fact, the Fourth isn't even married.

Back to the subject of the jinchuuriki: Whoever told you that being a jinchuuriki had its ups was an idiot. Ask any jinchuuriki; they would rather not have that…thing inside them. Of course, there are those who fantasize about being a jinchuuriki, and to back up their claim they say it gives them extra oomph. So? It gives them nothing good. Trying to turn bijuu into weapons was one of the stupidest things that village kage—village idiots more like it—have ever done. Not only does it create division in the village itself…it also screws up the life of the victim.

No one cares. The people who put the abomination inside the poor kid turn around after the child turns three, and decide that not only is he/she/it a monster (that they conveniently forget that _they_ made) but that he is a threat to the village. Granted, they "control" the threat but the unholy union that _they_ arranged is belatedly looked back upon and… you get the idea right? Then, there are the villagers. Having a demon inside you automatically grants you a subhuman status of biblical proportions. You can't walk down any street without catching whispers of 'demon', 'monster', 'freak', 'abomination', and many other colorful names. Believe me, being a jinchuuriki sucks.

Yah, I'm a jinchuuriki. Feel sorry for me? Wait until you see this thing inside me. You'll be singing another tune pretty quickly.

Look, just shut up and read the freaking story, huh? This is a first hand account of a jinchuuriki's life. It's not a very happy story, well, there are happy parts because almost everyone has those every now and then. Mainly, we go through everyday hell.

This story is about cats and dogs. Of course, that's not the only thing it's about, but that's the gist of it. Enjoy.

It's all a simple enough beginning. I escaped (on my own, thank you) from my former hidden village with a 'treasured' items. Nothing major, just a scroll listing a few C through B rank jutsu from the Lightning element.

I did all this when I was seven.

I know you have doubts about a seven year old kid stealing that kind of equipment from a hidden village, so lemme put it this way: my bijuu really rubs off on me. I've picked up so many traits from it, it's not even funny.

Anyway, after a year of wandering, I wound up in Konoha. When I met with the Fourth, I gave the jutsu scrolls to him in return for a chance to start my life over in Konoha. My status as a jinchuuriki would also be kept a secret. I was to be a nameless orphan under Konoha's care who was planning to enter the Ninja Academy.

This was one of the most important days of my life. Eight years old, staring out with a fresh chance at life, and on that day, I made my first friend.

_*break*_

Hikit's back hurt, and it wasn't because of slouching. Then again, he was also too tired to care if his back hurt, as his arms were wrapped on the desk, and his head was on his arms; the classic sleeping position for sleeping in class. He wasn't sleeping, his eyes were just closed. His acute hearing picked up nearly every sound in the room, from conversations to the folding of a paper shuriken. Class had started fifteen minutes ago but, their sensei had stepped outside for some reason unknown to him.

After a few minutes, he decided that listening to the two girls in the middle row gossip about him (much to his annoyance), Uchiha Genvar, and Hyuuga Moui was loosing him IQ points faster than he could replace them. He shut off his attention to the outside world and attempted to doze off. It worked…for twenty-some seconds.

"Inuzuka, you're late. Do you have a note?" Sensei's—whose name he had already forgotten—loud voice removed any possibility of catching a nap.

"I was tired." a girl's voice snapped back.

He snickered along with the rest of the class as Sensei groaned. One kid hollered, "Geeze Inuzuka, what happened? Fall in a mud puddle?"

"Oi, jackass, like you have any room to talk! When was the last time you showered, last year? I could smell you from my house!" Inuzuka barked back.

The boy, Akimichi, did not seem as if he was about to back down. "At least I have a brain, dumbass!"

"Yah, at least I don't think with my stomach, fatty!"

The sound of a hand smacking a desk accompanied the rise in the boy's volume. "Like I'm taking lip from a _girl_!"

"Students!" Sensei interrupted the argument, clapping his hands.

Running a hand through his blond hair, Hikit felt the ones at the base of his neck stand on end. If Sensei clapped one more time…"Detention, understand Inuzuka?"

"Ya ya, be there after class, I got it."

Chuckles went around the room. Hikit heard Sensei walk outside, mumbling something about a missing scroll. Maybe, Hikit thought, it would be quiet for a while.

"Oi, schooch."

Or not. He lazily looked up at the speaker.

It was Inuzuka. Only an Inuzuka clan member would sport those claw-like tattoos on their cheeks, their signature feral grin and the scent of dogs.

Glancing at her attire, he observed that she did look like she fell into a mud puddle. Splattered mud coated a dirty grey windbreaker with brown arm patches, and baggy pants completed the outfit. What looked like dried blood, dark red spots, coated her clothes in sporadic patterns.

The next thing he noticed was her nose. A cute, somewhat long nose. Somehow it just stood out.

The final thing that stood out was her eyes. In the place of irises were vertical black slits, dog like eyes that scrutinized him. Her mouth opened slightly, only to be shut just as fast. After a while, she smiled. "Well, I guess you're not all that bad. Schooch over."

He complied, scooting over. She moved to sit down but paused, eying him.

"New here, aren't you?"

He arched an eyebrow in response, keeping silent. With a glance to the front of the room, she slid down in the seat beside him. "I'm Inuzuka Yasou. You don't talk much do you?"

"Nope," Hikit mumbled, though it was loud enough for her to hear.

"I have ways of making you talk." She grinned, her eyes twinkling as the red claw tattoos curled and deformed as dimples formed on her cheeks. Her shiny white canines, like his, were abnormally long and sharp, and underneath that eight year old frame was a sturdy set of lithe muscles.

"Such as?" He asked, arching a blonde eyebrow.

"Kicking you in the shins till you talk." The grin grew, if that was possible.

Groaning inwardly, he said, "I don't mind talking, I just don't talk that much, mm?"

"Whatever. So let's get introduced. Who are you and…" Her voice trailed off as Sensei walked back into the room.

Glancing up at their seat, cold eyes warned her to be silent for the duration of class. With a dejected sigh, she slumped into her desk.

Hikit took a deep, calming breath. It was going to be a long day.

_*break*_

Lunch break was taken in silence, at least for him. The food was decent, not that he was complaining, he would take free food whatever it was. '_Rice, rice, I like rice…'_

Glancing around, he noticed his classmates congregating in small circles. '_Stupid cliques…_' Hikit didn't bother attempting to join one of the circles.

One thing he did notice was how quiet it was compared to the classroom. He suspected the absence of the Inuzuka girl might have had something to do with the silence. It seemed that the girl encouraged the noise, a speedy comeback always on the tip of her tongue. Where did she go?

His question was answered by a thump on the bench he was sitting on, next to him. "Oi, that's all you're gonna eat? Jeeze, you don't need to be on a freaking diet!"

He was rather surprised when she shoved a few wrapped meats into his chest, but he wasn't about to turn away free food. "Well, dad always did say to never to pass up a good meal, especially if it's free."

"Sounds like a smart guy," Inuzuka remarked, unwrapping a sandwich of her own.

Before she could go on, he asked, "What happened?"

She looked at him. "What?" was the response around the food in her mouth.

He blinked. "You look like you fell in a mud puddle."

Gulping down a large bite of the sandwich, she nodded. "Yah I know; got in a fight with some older kids on the way to school."

"Who won?"

"They did, but I doubt they'll come back for more, I ripped up one guy's leg pretty bad."

"How bad is 'pretty bad'?"

She flashed a feral grin after she swallowed some food. "Let's put it this way; the amount of surgery he's gonna have to have on his left leg is gonna keep him in the hospital for a few months."

She didn't look dirty enough for that. Sensing his doubt, she held up one hand to his face, giving him a view of her fingernails. "Blood and a little cartilage in there. Washed what I could off before I came to class."

"Ah." The mystery solved, he went back to eating.

"Oi, talk." Yasou elbowed him hard enough to knock the wind out of him. '_She must have big brothers_,' he thought with a grimace.

"Yasou. Nocturnal luminance?"

"It means field grass," she deadpanned.

Sighing, he ate some rice. Hikit heard her choke down her food. She then proceeded to whip out a magazine from her pack. Shinobi Monthly, a recent one too. "Stole it from mom, check this out," she flipped through pages, stopping at page forty two. "A whole article on minor poisons! My favorite is the one that makes people lose their lunch."

Once again, she dug in her lunch bag, this time pulling out a handful of plant roots. Yasou gave him a wild grin. "Wanna try it out on our resident glutton?"

"You sure have it in for the Akimichi kid." He muttered, chewing on a wrapped meat.

"Yah, he's a jackass," she grinned and scratched the back of her muddy brown hair.

He nodded, sipping from a juice pack. Hikit felt her eyes fixed on him, as if she was expecting something. He arched an eyebrow in response.

"So…" She twirled the roots around in her fingers, "Wanna get into some trouble?"

_*break*_

_Well, how was that for a first chapter? Comments? Ideas? _

_Chapter 2 will not be coming. Sorry :(_

_Thanks to Lene, my editor. She's my friend ^^_

_The breaks are because it wont let me keep the little squiggly lines i use for edditing.  
_


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